Thug broke friend's jaw with single punch in front of young son following row

A thug barged into his friend's living room and broke his jaw in front of his young son.

Lewis Ainge, 29, of Runcorn, entered Steven Carr’s bungalow on a neighbouring street in the days before Christmas and punched him, a court heard.

Ainge entered the house at around 10.15pm on Sunday, December 20 through a shut but unlocked front door.

He then burst into the living room where Mr Carr was watching television with his boy and adult step-daughter.

Ember-Jade Wong, prosecuting at Chester Crown Court today, said when Mr Carr asked what Ainge was doing, he “became aggressive and punched the complainant to the face, to the right jaw below the ear”, the Liverpool Echo reports.

Mr Carr felt his “teeth hit the bottom of his jaw” and then felt "loose" as he dropped to the floor and Ainge “stood over him”.

As Mr Carr retreated to the kitchen saying he would call the police, Ainge followed, saying: “Are you lad? Are you?”

Ainge left the scene and after his arrest by Cheshire police, he provided a prepared statement in which he claimed Mr Carr had “run at him with an axe”.

The court heard the pair had fallen out and at 9.50pm that evening a rock had crashed through Mr Carr’s bedroom window, prompting Mr Carr to send a text to Ainge telling him not to “darken his doorstep again”.

Following his injury, a consultant at Halton Hospital diagnosed Mr Carr’s jaw as broken “on both sides”, and although he did not need surgery, he was placed on a soft diet and in splints.

Mr Carr rated the pain as eight out of 10, adding the blow left him suffering migraines and with loss of feeling in his jaw.

Ms Wong said a victim impact statement also revealed he had installed CCTV for protection following the assault, and had to cancel a trip abroad which cost him his flight money.

The effect on his work had been “limited”.

Ainge initially pleaded not guilty, but went on to admit the prosecution case as he pleaded guilty to Section 20 assault causing grievous bodily harm without intent.

At Chester Crown Court on Tuesday, a second count of burglary - stealing an axe from Mr Carr according to the charge description in magistrates’ court documents - was ordered to lie on file.

Ainge had six previous convictions for eight offences including assault occasioning bodily harm (ABH) in 2017, for which he received a suspended sentence.

Paul Wood, defending, said a probation officer had deemed Ainge to be “low risk”, but this didn’t convince Judge Patrick Thompson, who said: “He’s gone into someone’s home and broken their jaw.

“(Probation) have their opinion, mine’s different.

“I don’t know what people have to do to be assessed as high risk.”

Mr Wood added that the ABH incident was five years ago, Ainge had pleaded guilty, he had children, and had been “satisfactory” in complying with previous orders.

He said the “single blow” was not intended to cause the level of injury inflicted.

Judge Thompson sentenced Ainge to 12 months in prison, to be served immediately.

He made a restraining order prohibiting Ainge from going within 100 metres of Mr Carr’s home address, and ordered the defendant to pay a victim surcharge and compensation.

Referring to Ainge’s 2017 conviction, Judge Thompson said: “No doubt on that occasion you were warned about your future conduct, and told you have a criminal record and future offending would be very

serious for you.

“It seems that didn’t deter you and it seems that’s how you resolve disputes.

“You caused a very significant injury.

“It doesn’t reflect greater harm, there wasn’t an operation, but there was a considerable period of recuperation and it was very unpleasant

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